C# Dev Connect 1: Intro to Threading

In my last post, I mentioned we’d be hosting a C# Dev Connect meetup at our Magnet Forensics HQ in Waterloo. I figured I’d post to talk about how the event went so that if you couldn’t make it, you’ll have an idea for next time (and if you did make it, maybe you can comment on how you thought the event went). Our first Dev Connect was lead by a colleague of mine, Chris Sippel, who wanted to give a talk on threading basics in C#. Threading can quickly become a really complex topic, so Chris wanted to keep it high level and talk about the different approaches you can use to start threading in your C# applications.

Dev Connect: Before the Talk

Before Chris gave his talk on threading, we had our attendees slowly streaming in. Sure, we had a lot of our Magnet development team show up to offer support for Chris, but I was still pleasantly surprised to see others from the area that I’ve never met before showing an interest in C#. Our colleague Amaris had done an awesome job coordinating the first event for us, and even got us stocked up with pizza and pop. For the first hour or so, we had our guests fed and introduced to each other. A great start to the evening!

Dev Connect: The Talk

After everyone was settled in, we had our attendees pull up some chairs at tables or post up in our comfy soft seating to listen to what Chris had to say. Chris walked us through various slides and coding examples and was able to show us working examples of code to back up what he was saying. I was really proud of Chris for taking the leap to be our first speaker, and I think he did a great job. His slides and sample code are available at the Dev Connect git hub if you’re interested in taking a peek.

Dev Connect: The Aftermath

Once Chris was done talking, we had a few attendees leave to carry on with the rest of their evening, but it was great to see the majority hang back for further discussion. Some people were trying out the threading exercises that Chris had put together, others had tried it beforehand and had questions on it, and a bunch of people were sticking around just to talk .NET. When I envisioned what Dev Connect might have looked like, this was it. It felt great to help facilitate a positive discussion around using the .NET framework and C#, especially because people were clearly benefiting from it.

If you came for our first meetup, then thanks! If you couldn’t make it or you’re interested in the next one, be sure to check out our meetup page. We’ll see you next time!

C# Dev Connect Meetup!

About a year ago I had thrown around the idea of creating a C#-specific group that would meet at a regular interval with some of my colleagues. I saw that there was interest, but between all of the things we had going on in our personal lives and work lives, we just hadn’t been able to co-ordinate something. I’m excited to announce that with some more solid planning over the last couple of months, C# Dev Connect will be able to host their first meetup! The company I work for, Magnet Forensics, has graciously offered our new office to host the event which will help tremendously. We’ll have a group of people from Magnet Forensics their to help out, but the only thing “Magnet” about the event is really just that it’s hosted at the office.

What’s on the Dev Connect Agenda?

This upcoming Tuesday (Tuesday January 20th, 2015) C# Dev Connect will be hosting their first monthly meetup on the topic of Threading in C#. Directly from the event’s Meetup page:

Overview of the the basics of threading in C# language. Threading is a very complex idea with many different ways of handling the same problem, however, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. We’ll be discussing the basics of threads in .NET 2.0 and .NET 4.0. In .NET 2.0 we’ll be discussing the Thread object, various ways to start/stop threads, and potential stumbling blocks when it comes to threading in C#. In .NET 4.0 we’ll be talking about the async and await operators and how to use them.

A colleague of mine, Chris Sippel, will be giving the talk. People are encouraged to bring their laptops so they can try out some C# exercises related to the discussion. This initial talk may be more geared at an introductory-level, but our goal is to be able to cover topics for all levels of knowledge in C# (From never used it before, to expert level). We’ll even provide some food! All you have to do is show up and be ready to learn some C#, or share your C# knowledge.

If you’re looking for our venue, we had this little map put together:

Go into the back of 156 Columbia Street West in Waterloo (at the corner of Phillip and Columbia). If you’re familiar with the area, this used to be called RIM/Blackberry 5.

More Dev Connect Info

Here are a few additional links to get you to more C# Dev Connect information online:

I work as a team lead of software engineering at Magnet Forensics (http://www.magnetforensics.com). I'm into powerlifting, bodybuilding, and blogging about leadership/development topics over at http://www.devleader.ca.